We Took their Land
By James Ron, Daily Star/Globe and Mail. 07/2000
(BALTIMORE, July 24, 2000)-- Prime Minister Ehud Barak must prepare
Israelis for territorial concessions by publicly acknowledging what
most Israelis already know in their hearts. We took their land.
The occupied territories are not Israel's to keep.
Although Israeli Jews tacitly understand that these lands, including
East Jerusalem, belong to another people, they rarely acknowledge so
openly. Ever since the 1948 war, the subject of Palestinian land
claims have been one of Jewish society's greatest taboos. Even
Israel's most liberal leaders gingerly skirt the issue, fearing that
acknowledgment of Palestinian rights will hurt them at the polls.
Israelis hate to admit they took Palestinian land because they are
all morally implicated. My own experience is a case in point.
My family first came to Israel from the U.S. in 1973, taking up
residence in a beautiful Arab home overlooking Jerusalem's Old City.
We must have realized the property originally belonged to a
Palestinian, but we avoided raising the topic in family discussions.
Instead, we enjoyed its tasteful architecture, delightful views, and
picturesque surroundings.
After growing up in Israel and serving in the army, my first rental
was in Ein Karem, a former Palestinian village on the outskirts of
Jerusalem. Unlike many such villages, Ein Karem was not destroyed
during the 1948 war, and eventually became a desirable neighborhood
coveted by upscale Jewish intellectuals for its old world charm.
Although I and many of my neighbors belonged to Israel's political
left, we rarely spoke of Ein Karem's Palestinian origins. Instead,
we discussed our good luck in finding such choice property in
Jerusalem's tight real estate market.
Many Israelis' unwillingness to acknowledge Palestinian rights stems
from their secret shame over the events of 1948. During that conflict,
Jewish soldiers forced -- or 'encouraged' -- some 750,000 Palestinian
to flee their homes. Through a process today known as ethnic cleansing,
Israel seized control over vast swathes of Palestinian land and denied
refugees their right to return.
After 1948, the new Israeli state flourished on the ruins of
Palestinian society. Some 400 Palestinian villages were bulldozed
after the war, and their land was given to Jewish agricultural
cooperatives. Thousands of Jewish families moved took possession of
Palestinian homes in Haifa, Jaffa and Jerusalem, gaining control of
what would later become highly lucrative property.
Estimates set Palestinian wartime losses at $100-150 billion in
current terms. These resources entered the Jewish economy in the form
of land, housing, and agricultural equipment.
Israel grew from strength to strength from 1948 to 1967, building on
the 78 percent of historic Palestine it controlled. Although Jews had
owned only seven percent of the land slated for Jewish control under
the 1947 United Nations partition plan Israel controlled over 90
percent by the war's end. Palestinians, meanwhile, were forced to
make do with U.N. rations and refugee camps.
Israelis know their country would not have survived as both 'democratic'
and 'Jewish' if Palestinians hadn't been forced out. Had Palestinians
remained in their homes, they would have eventually challenged the
state's Jewish identity at the polls. Israel could have remained a
'Jewish homeland' only through apartheid-like repression.
Few Palestinians today expect to return to their pre-1948 homes,
realizing full well that their parents' villages are gone forever.
Refugee experts believe that most will remain where they are, and
that others will use the international compensation package to resettle
in the West Bank or Gaza.
What Palestinians do want, however, is to assume full sovereignty over
what little of Palestine still remains. They aren't asking for much.
After all, the post-1967 lands comprise only 22 percent of what was
once theirs.
Barak must summon the courage to openly say what most Israelis secretly
know: the occupied territories belong to another people. Although many
Israelis will initially respond with anger to such a statement, the
prime minister's honesty will pave the way for fundamental change. Over
the long run, his forthrightness will break the taboo, forcing us all
to confront painful realities.
Common decency requires Israel to return the lands seized in 1967 to
their rightful owners. A full withdrawal, moreover, is the only way to
win genuine and popular Palestinian support for a peace treaty. Although
Israel may eventually compel Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to accept
a partial withdrawal, it can't force millions of Palestinians to support
the deal.
If Israel makes a full withdrawal and generously compensates Palestinian
refugees, however, it will have signalled its wholehearted willingness
to live in peace with its neighbors.
